Evergreen Solar To Cut Jobs, Move Others To China

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — A solar panel company is moving some jobs overseas after receiving $58 million in state aid and being touted by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick as a symbol of the state's economic future.

Evergreen Solar Inc. (ESLR) said Wednesday it is moving panel assembly jobs currently done at a plant in Devens to China next year. The announcement came as the company announced that it lost $167 million in the first nine months of this year.

About half of the 577 full-time and 230 contract employees at the Devens factory are involved in putting the panels together, but the company did not say how many jobs the state would lose.

Ian Bowles, secretary of the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, called Evergreen's decision disappointing.